The ONT exam for CCNP is all about QoS with some wireless and VoIP thrown into the mix. Since we don’t use VoIP where I work (yet!) and we pretty much leave our wireless confined to its own vlan with its own cable modems, I’m thinking that this exam will be the least applicable to everyday work of them all, so I’ve decided to tackle it first rather than leave it looming at the end. So far, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how much I’ve enjoyed learning about QoS…it’s basically like writing rules for network bouncers…certain packets get special treatment, like a pretty girl in line for the club that only has to stand in line 5 minutes before the bouncer picks her out and lets her in. Other packets like VOIP get the red carpet treatment and never even touch the queue, like Paris Hilton hopping out of her Hummer and strutting right into the club. Other poor packets are like the rest of us, stuck in the line. Some of us get through in decent time if we show up at the right time and others of us are plain just told No and dropped.
In order to practice some of this, I’m building a virtual lab with dynamips. I’m using 4 2811 routers, 3 with Advanced-IP images and 1 with a Security-Plus image. I’m hoping that plus a real wireless AP and some sort of traffic generator ought to do the trick. As soon as I get everything set up, I’ll post a visio of my topology here.
Mainly, though, I’m glad to be back on the learning track again. I was starting to get cobwebs growing in my brain!
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